The 86th Academy Awards are this Sunday, Mar. 2, but don’t stress! Four days is still plenty of time to become familiar with the best films of the year.
Today’s Oscar cheat sheet will tell you what to watch on the big screen, your home screen and your computer screen before Hollywood’s biggest night.
Watch in Theaters: The Wolf of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street is three hours of drugs and sex and despicable people and it gets, well, repetitive. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort can only do Quaaludes so many times before we’re a little bored by seeing him do Quaaludes, and Jonah Hill’s Donnie Azoff can only do so much cocaine before we’re a little bored by seeing him do cocaine. It’s impossible, however, to resist the urge to fast forward when you’re in the theater. So see The Wolf of Wall Street on the big screen, realize why the exhausting performances of DiCaprio and Hill were nominated — and then quickly forget about it.
Watch at Home: Blue Jasmine
Speaking of exhausting, Cate Blanchett’s oh-my-god-how-could-she-not-win-Best-Actress performance in Blue Jasmine just might be her best work ever. The rest of the movie feels familiar, but Blanchett’s pathetic, unstable, self-involved, over-medicated, alcoholic and, yes, Blue Jasmine is almost impossible to take your eyes off of. It’s Cate’s movie, and (almost certainly) her Oscar.
Watch Right Now: Great Oscar Moments
The official website for the Oscars is a great source of information every year, but this year it’s particularly wonderful. There’s a “Great Oscar Moments” countdown that’s one of the best time wasters online right now. I mean, just watch this clip from the ‘69 Oscars. You’ll never look at Best Costume Design the same way again.